In my perfect world
by Dr.Horus
Summary: Alex is dead and in hell and a certain angel pays him a visit.


**Had LOTS of fun with this one! Alex/Des is one of my new favorite ship :D Based this story on a picture over here on DeviantArt: art/here-you-are-358302038 (there's actually another one to go with it by the same artist)**

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Alex had his hands in his pockets as he walked along. The dirt beneath his feet was black and infertile with many cracks full of lava rivers and ravines. The smell of brimstone hung in the burning dry air and the sound of agonized screeching was inescapable. Demons similar to Alex flew up above on flaming wings and fought each other for no reason. Alex didn't join in these activities, he had no desire to fight or fly, despite the demonic wings folded on his back. His pointed tail flicked lazily back and forth in time with every footstep.

How did Alex end up in hell? He couldn't tell you. He remembered nothing of his old life, though he was certain for some reason that he had had a life before this eternal torture. However Alex had a feeling that he deserved this. If he was here now that must mean he was a bad person, why else would he be so ruthlessly punished?

Alex remembered a lot of things, but none of them made sense. The cluster of memories was near impossible to untangle, just a bundle of voices, but every once in a while when he managed to pick out one particular group a life was uncovered. Not Alex's, someone else's. He's seen doctors, police officers, mothers, office workers, but all of them seemed distant and unfamiliar. Maybe somewhere in the mayhem Alex's old life resided, but he hadn't found it yet.

A loose rock was set flying as Alex kicked it. He watched as it pounced several times before crashing into a lava river with a plop and sizzle.

"Gotcha!" a triumphant voice came from behind. At the same time Alex felt a tug on his tail. He hissed and his arms instinctively transformed into claws as he turned to see who had disturbed him.

_It must be an angel_, Alex thought. That's the only way a creature so magnificent could be. The angel was a man with grand pure white feathery wings that he was currently using to fly a few feet off the ground with. He had short brown hair and warm brown eyes to match. There was something so familiar about the angel to Alex, but he couldn't target the memory. Too many other minds clogged up his and all the memories he did have were a jumbled mess.

"I found you! Thought you could escape me, huh?" the angel scolded playfully.

Alex just looked at him with a blank stare. What the hell is this angel talking about?

"Let go." Alex demanded, yanking his tail out of the other's grasp.

The angel frowned slightly. "C'mon, Alex, don't be so grumpy. I mean, you are in hell, but how bad can that be really?"

"What are you doing here? Aren't angels supposed to be in heaven?" Alex asked coldly.

The angel grinned and crossed his arms. "I came to get you, stupid. You didn't think I'd just leave you behind, did you?"

"Who are you?!"

The angel's smile wavered. A shadow of uncertainty passed over his face. For half a second Alex glimpsed a strange darkness and grief that shouldn't be present in an angel's face and it sparked an overwhelming sorrow in him to know that it was there.

"Don't...you remember?"

"No, or else I wouldn't be asking." Alex pointed out.

"It's Desmond. I'm Desmond." the angel informed him hopefully, lifting his face in anticipation. "C'mon, don't fuck with me, Mercer, this isn't a game."

"Look, Desmond, I've never seen or talked to you before so why don't you just fuck off before I make you." the demon threatened, curling his fists threateningly.

Desmond landed, sending up a cloud of dirt from the ground. He walked towards Alex until they were less than a foot apart. Chocolaty brown eyes stared intensely into icy blue.

"You don't remember." he said slowly, trying to force the words to sink into his skull. A silence followed his words and Alex pondered just walking away. But something kept him there, something kept him with Desmond. Alex felt like he DID know Desmond somehow, like an irritating itch in the back of his mind, begging for him to scratch it and recall.

A slow smile spread its way across Desmond's features, splitting his scared lips.

"I know how I can _make_ you remember." he said excitedly and grabbed Alex's hand. Alex instinctively pulled away at the intimate contact, but Desmond held tight.

"Come with me and I can show you who I am."

Alex was tempted to give out right then. If this angel knew him then maybe he knew more about the demon's past. Perhaps if Alex went with Desmond he would discover who he used to be.

"Alright. I'll go." he finally agreed, but took his hand away and stuffed it, and its companion, in his pockets.

Desmond lifted into the air on his angelic wings. He looked down at Alex who had remained standing.

"Well, come on then!"

For the first time since arriving in this god forsaken underworld, Alex unfurled his wings and gave them a few powerful flaps to get him into the air. Unused to flying, he wobbled momentarily before steadying.

"Where are you taking me exactly?" Alex inquired as he flew after his angel guide.

"Heaven." was Desmond's short response.

_Heaven? How the fuck does he expect to get me into heaven?_ But Alex didn't voice any of his uncertainties out loud, he just followed.

Eventually the two arrived at the border, a giant golden fence that stretched as far as the eye could see in either direction. It looked delicate and flimsy, but Alex knew full well that it was capable of burning a demon to ashes with one touch. And the same would happen if he tried to fly over it.

"What now, shit for brains?" Alex crossed his arms.

Desmond looked the fence up and down, then left and right. He tapped his chin and gave a thoughtful hum.

"I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark here and say people down here can't go through." Desmond said slowly. "So…We'll have to find another way…" he trailed off in thought.

"Oh! I've got it! Hey, you can still do your tentacley thing, right?"

"You mean this?" Alex displayed his ability to manipulate his limbs by turning one arm into several writhing tentacles.

"Yeah, that! Okay, now all we have to do is trick the gate into thinking we're one person. So you're going to have to use your tentacles to get as close to me as possible." Desmond instructed.

He put the gate to his back and turned to Alex.

Alex blushed slightly at the angel's words.

"What? I'm not doing that!" he declared.

"Alex, do you want to get into this place or not?" Desmond pressed.

The demon sighed. "Fine." He was certainly not enjoying taking orders from this angel.

Despite continued grumbling, the demon extended his limbs, reaching out to Desmond, who had turned back around so they wouldn't have to be face to face. Alex felt as the tentacles, slightly hesitantly, reached under Desmond's hoodie and spread out across his skin. Desmond shivered at the contact, but didn't pull away like Alex continually expected. Why is he taking this so easily? Alex bared his teeth and pushed harder. The tentacles extended like a web to encompass Desmond's chest and then moved further. They reached down into his pants and caressed his legs, encasing them as well. Finally the black tendrils covered the angel's neck and slightly up his face. Now Desmond looked a little uneasy, which pleased Alex much more than his previous reaction.

Now the biomass reeled Desmond in, using its intense strength to pull him towards Alex. Soon Desmond's back was pressed solid to Alex's front.

"This close enough?" Alex asked sarcastically.

"Close enough." Desmond confirmed. "Now fly forward."

Alex advanced towards the gate slowly, not eager to reach his second demise. He stopped when Desmond's face was a hair's breath away from the gate.

Desmond gulped and unconsciously grabbed Alex's hand. Alex looked down, startled by the touch. Despite the foreign collision of dark skin against pale, it felt comforting.

The shorter of the two men took a deep breath and then rushed forward, ready to face whatever may happen.

To the amazement of both, the angel and demon passed right through the fence unharmed. There was a moment of silence before Desmond sighed in relief. Alex quickly detangled himself from Desmond and retracted his limbs. The angel looked slightly dissatisfied by the motion, but didn't speak out against it.

"Well, welcome to heaven." Desmond said rather dully.

It didn't look any different from the land on the other side of the gate except for a wall of fluffy white clouds that coated the sky.

"The real party's upstairs." Desmond explained. A demonic grin spread across the angelic face and caught Alex off guard. "Let's crash it."

The angel and demon took flight once more, headed straight for the massive white expanse above. When they finally broke through the feather soft materiel, Alex was faced with a beautiful sight.

It was a grand city with buildings of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Each house was vastly different from the last. A white pillared, gold trimmed temple was side by side with a quaint little Victorian home that was pale pink. The yards to go with the houses were just as personalized with various ornaments and totems.

And then there were the people. There was all range of people from all different places and times. A couple walked down a street in full military attire from England in the eighteen hundreds, while a little girl skipped around in ancient Egyptian robes that glittered under a vast light that filled the sky.

Alex was brought away from the spectacle by Desmond tugging on his sleeve.

"We've got to disguise you somehow, so they don't know you're a demon." he was saying.

"I can change my face, but not my wings. But maybe I could hide them and the tail." Alex told the other.

Desmond pursed his lips as he thought, his eyes scanning the scene ahead.

"Okay, hide the wings, and pick someone…not suspicious."

"Right, 'cause I was going to pick the most suspicious person possibly." Alex retorted, and rolled his eyes.

Alex flew up a little and landed on the street, carefully out of view of any prying eyes. He quickly chose one of the many people trapped in his head and changed into a normal looking guy with no demon wings looming off his back. Alex rolled his shoulders and stretched his fingers, getting use to the new skin.

"Ready." He announced. "But won't it draw attention that I have no wings?"

Desmond landed beside him and shook his head. "Nah, lots of people don't have wings."

"Why?"

"Because they haven't earned them. I guess only people who've done really good things get them up here." he explained with a shrug.

Alex wondered what Desmond had done to get his wings. And in that case, he wondered what caused the damned to have wings, and a tail not to mention.

"Where to now?" Alex questioned, looking around the street they had landed on.

"There's this special temple," Desmond informed him. "Where you can look at all your memories. You know, so you can relive all the good times, or whatever. It'll take a little longer to get there without flying, but the place isn't far from here, c'mon." Desmond set out along the street, without waiting for Alex to follow. But he did.

They maneuvered through a grid of various houses of all sorts. The other people that wandered about often said hello or waved as the two passed by. The air smelled like lilacs and lavender and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Overall it was a very nice place. It kind of freaked Alex out how perfect it was.

Desmond finally stopped at their ultimate destination. It was a cylindrical building of white marble and a cream door set in the front.

"This is it." the angel said, and walked up to the door. He opened it and looked expectantly back at Alex. "Aren't you coming?"

But the truth was Alex was afraid. He was afraid of what he might mind should they look into his past. If he had been condemned to hell, then what kind of a person had he been? Alex wondered, but didn't necessarily want to know, what horrible things he had done to get into such a horrible place.

"Yeah," he reluctantly agreed, and followed Desmond into the building. Despite it all, he had to know who he was.

Inside was a single circular room with pure white walls and glowing inscriptions carved on the walls that seemed to swirl in circles. In the middle of the domed room was a waist high pedestal with a black orb set in the top.

Alex let his disguise drop as he and his saintly companion walked fully into the otherwise empty room.

"What now?" Alex asked, turning to Desmond.

Desmond ignored him and walked right up to the pedestal.

"If I touch this I can see selective memories. Are you ready?"

Alex curled and uncurled his fists, fidgeting unconsciously.

"Yes." he finally decided. Alex stepped closer beside where Desmond was.

"Alright, get ready." Desmond pressed his palm over the orb.

The inscriptions on the walls glowed more brightly and then all the sudden, they died. The entire room went black, throwing the two into complete darkness. Out of the darkness came images like a movie, playing out before them.

Desmond stood behind a bar, serving drinks and giving out fake smiles. Then someone else walked up and took a seat at the bar. Alex's eyes widened when he recognized himself. The Desmond and Alex from the memory talked but no words could be heard by the two real men.

The memory rippled and changed and suddenly they saw an apartment. Desmond sat lazily on a couch watching TV. His head looked over like he heard a sound and he walked to the door. Alex was revealed when the door was opened. He took Desmond by either side of his face and kissed him passionately.

Again the images shifted. Alex and Desmond stood on a rooftop overlooking a city. Alex looked angry and was saying something to Desmond. Desmond seemed hurt and worried and motioned desperately to the other. Alex waved his hand dismissively and turned his back. Desmond grabbed the back of his jacket but Alex quickly spun around and punched him in the chin. The hoodie clad man fell to the ground with the other looming over him. Suddenly Alex jumped powerfully and glided away.

The memories came to a halt and the room relit. Alex was left reeling from what he had seen. Memories abruptly resurfaced, crashing down on him in waves of agonizing truth. He remembered everything about his old life. He remembered discovering that he was a living virus. He remembered saving New York City from the same virus. He vividly remembered when he had met Desmond at the Bad Weather bar when he was working there. He remembered the first time he had kissed Desmond and the relationship that had followed. He also painfully remembered telling Desmond that he was going to wipe out mankind because, as a whole, they didn't deserve compassion. Alex remembered how James Heller had killed him for what he did.

"Alex?" Desmond's shaky voice broke through the sea of memories overwhelming Alex. He hadn't even realized that he had fallen to one knee.

"I…I remember…Everything."

Alex slowly stood and raised his head to Desmond. The taller man had tears brimming his eyes, the ghost of a hopeful smile on his lips.

"I remember you."

Desmond gave a shaky laugh and came forward. He grabbed the back of Alex's head and pressed their foreheads together. The tears broke past their boundaries and spilled freely down his cheeks.

"I've missed you so fucking much." he choked.

Alex let his hands come up and rest on Desmond's slim hips.

"I wish I could've remembered sooner." Alex murmured.

Desmond didn't let him feel bad for long. He wrapped his arms around Alex's neck and pulled him in for a passionate yet tender kiss. Alex tightened his hold on Desmond and forced their bodies flush to better lean into the kiss. The kiss seemed to last for an eternity, since neither wanted to let go, before they finally had to come up for air. Not a need by this point, but out of habit. Desmond settled for the closest alternative and hugged Alex close, resting his chin on the shorter's shoulder. Alex let a small smile slip onto his face.

They were finally back together. Alex didn't know how much time had passed since he came here, but he knew that they had been separated for far too long. They were both so euphoric to be in each other's arms again, it was the best feeling in the world, or rather heaven now.


End file.
